IOC panel praises progress in Pyeongchang bid

A boy poses for a photo in front of a snow sculpture for Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic in Pyeongchang, east of Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011. Pyeongchang is bidding again to host the Winter Games after narrow defeats to Vancouver for 2010 and Sochi, Russia, for 2014. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)
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A boy poses for a photo in front of a snow sculpture for Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic in Pyeongchang, east of Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011. Pyeongchang is bidding again to host the Winter Games after narrow defeats to Vancouver for 2010 and Sochi, Russia, for 2014. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)
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Gunilla Lindberg, chair of IOC Evaluation Commission, left, and Gilbert Felli, executive director of IOC Olympic Games, right, leave after a news conference for Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic in Pyeongchang, east of Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011. The IOC panel touring South Korea this week is praising the "passionate support" from the government and locals for Pyeongchang's bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)
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A South Korean father pulls his son on a sled in front of the sign for Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic in Pyeongchang, east of Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011. Pyeongchang is bidding again to host the Winter Games after narrow defeats to Vancouver for 2010 and Sochi, Russia, for 2014. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)— AP

A South Korean father pulls his son on a sled in front of the sign for Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic in Pyeongchang, east of Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011. Pyeongchang is bidding again to host the Winter Games after narrow defeats to Vancouver for 2010 and Sochi, Russia, for 2014. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)
/ AP

Visitors pose for their souvenir pictures in front of the sign for Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic in Pyeongchang, east of Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011. Pyeongchang is bidding again to host the Winter Games after narrow defeats to Vancouver for 2010 and Sochi, Russia, for 2014. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)— AP

Visitors pose for their souvenir pictures in front of the sign for Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic in Pyeongchang, east of Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011. Pyeongchang is bidding again to host the Winter Games after narrow defeats to Vancouver for 2010 and Sochi, Russia, for 2014. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)
/ AP

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea 
Pyeongchang showed passion and progress in unveiling its third bid to host the Winter Olympics, an International Olympic Committee panel said on Saturday.

Gunilla Lindberg, chair of the 14-member IOC evaluation commission visiting South Korea this week, praised strides made in building winter sports facilities in the country's northeastern mountains.

Pyeongchang organizers showed off six venues, and said blueprints have been drawn to build seven others if the city wins the right to host the 2018 Winter Olympics during a vote in Durban, South Africa, in July.

Lindberg also noted the growth in winter sports in the Asian nation, with South Korean athletes improving from winning four Olympic medals at Salt Lake City in 2002 to 14 in Vancouver last year.

Speaking at a news conference, Lindberg acknowledged that the panel asked South Korean government officials about security concerns. But she said the Korean peninsula has remained in the same state of tension for 60 years, successfully hosting the Summer Olympics in 1988 and co-hosting the World Cup in 2002.

The Olympics could serve as a "force for the good," she said.

The Korean peninsula remains in a technical state of war because the fighting ended in a truce, not a peace treaty in 1953. The heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone runs straight through the province, Gangwon, where Pyeongchang was located.

There was no mention in this bid of nuclear-armed North Korea, which Seoul accuses of sinking a warship nearly a year ago, killing 46 sailors, and of launching an artillery attack on a front-line island in November that killed four South Koreans.

However, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said late Friday that a Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018 could help bring peace to the Korean peninsula.

South Korea's minister for culture, sports and tourism said the IOC evaluation commission did not raise concerns about the political situation but did ask about the progress of inter-Korean dialogue. He said there was no talk of a joint Olympics with the North.

"If North Korea joins our Olympic Games, we can welcome them but currently we can't think of co-hosting with them," Choung Byoung-gug said on Saturday at a separate news conference.

Both South Korean organizing committee members and Lindberg thanked local residents for turning out in droves to welcome the IOC panel.

Undeterred by record snowfall, hundreds lined the streets with flags and banners to welcome the IOC group on Monday. Scores kept up the giddy welcome throughout four days of site inspections, including the new $1.5 billion Alpensia ski resort in Pyeongchang and in the coastal city of Gangneung.

"During our site visits, it has been wonderful to see so many people showing their support to bring the Winter Olympic Games here to Korea," Lindberg said.

She also praised the strong government support for the bid. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and a slew of Cabinet ministers traveled to Pyeongchang, 110 miles northeast of Seoul, to meet the panel.

The South Korea visit is the second in the evaluation commission's tour of 2018 bidders. They were in Annecy, France, last week, and head to Munich next.